SNC-Lavalin reveals its illegal political financing

MONTREAL – Canada’s largest engineering company has admitted to participating in illegal political financing in Quebec.

A vice-president at SNC-Lavalin is testifying today at Quebec’s corruption inquiry.

Yves Cadotte says dozens of SNC executives, and sometimes even their spouses, donated just over $1 million to the Quebec Liberal party and the Parti Quebecois between 1998 and 2010. A small majority of that cash went to the Liberals, although the PQ got nearly 50 per cent of the amount.

He says executives would get company bonuses when they donated, and the amount of that bonus was greater than the donation amount.

It is illegal for companies to make political donations, and it’s also illegal to reimburse people for their donations, in Quebec.

Cadotte admitted on the witness stand that he was aware that it was illegal to offer such refunds.

But he said it’s the political parties that came to solicit the money. He said the parties would even set fundraising targets for his company.